Question: How many high-definition videoconference calls can take place between LA and Hong Kong at the same time? Answer: 80 million — once a new project from Google and Facebook is completed. That’s the word from Google’s Cloud Platform unit, which said Wednesday that Google is teaming with Facebook and communications companies Pacific Light Data …

Forget “You break it, you buy it.” In the world of virtual reality, a better warning might be, “Sneeze in front of it, it’s yours.” China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba is developing a system designed to let shoppers in VR malls pay by simply nodding. “It is very boring to have to take off your goggles for payment,” a technologist working …

Capping a highly politicized debate, the US government on Saturday let go of its remaining grip on the internet, handing control of the net’s address book to a nonprofit. Saying free speech in the virtual realm was at stake, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and others had tried to block the transfer. But a federal judge denied on Friday their request …

“Where’s that damn document I’m looking for?” If you’re a Google Drive user, you can now find that doc by typing in a search query much like the one above (though you’ll probably want to be just a bit more specific). Google’s cloud storage and file backup service has been updated to allow for Natural Language Processing, or NLP, the …

Sigh. Yes, the break is over and school awaits. But with a little luck you might be able to ditch class and go to the moon instead. With the new school year upon us, Google has souped up its Expeditions and Classroom apps for teachers and students. The Expeditions app, which lets students take virtual-reality field trips with the help …

If you’re old enough to remember Bill Clinton campaigning for president by playing his saxophone on a late-night talk show, you know what a crowd-pleaser he can be. And if you’re not old enough but you watched his speech tonight at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, you may well know it too. Of course, you need not have watched …

ESPN is apparently ready to take a shot at offering a direct-to-web live-sports package. That is, if a report from The Information is on target. An anonymous source told the news site that the Walt Disney-owned sports network is planning to offer a package that would include niche leagues and maybe some college sports, but none of the network’s blue-chip …

As video continues its conquest of our smartphones and other gadgets, Google has scooped up a firm that will let it offer content companies like NBC Universal tools for creating and publishing clips. Google’s Cloud Platform unit said this week that Anvato would be folded into its team. Anvato makes a software platform that “fully automates the encoding, editing, publishing …

Donald Trump’s Twitter feed is once again causing outrage. On Saturday morning, a tweet appeared in Trump’s feed calling rival Hillary Clinton the “most corrupt candidate ever” and featuring a photo collage of Clinton against a sea of hundred-dollar bills. The problem? The “most corrupt” phrase floating alongside Hillary’s head was set off by a graphic element shaped like a …

The death of Muhammad Ali, boxing’s poet laureate, prompted a blanket of elegies on the Internet on Saturday, as everyone from fellow fighters to heads of state took to social media in celebration and remembrance of Ali’s life. Ali — whose uncompromising moral stances, brash and stylish way with words, and three heavyweight championships made him one of the most …